Product Reviews

Family Business is a simple card game that is best played with a group of people who just
like to mess with each other.

The point is not so much to win, but to screw over everyone else at the table. Our family
and friends love this game--it's a maniacal way to spend an evening: massacring, knocking
off and just plain old putting the snuff on other players.

Yes, there's a lot of luck involved in which cards you get dealt and then draw, but that's not
the point. It's a whole lot of fun when someone gets close to winning and you get to take
them out, or playing an unexpected card to turn the tables on absolutely everyone.

And there is strategy--knowing when to play your best cards or hang onto them...just don't
hang onto them too long or you may never get to play them. And sometimes, you just
decide someone is going to be your enemy for that game and do as much damage to them
as you can before you go to the grave...

I got this game over a decade ago and it never gets old...I think I've only ever won a handful
of times, but it's more fun mouthing off and screwing over your family and friends!

This is one of the first games I got, which in turn, started my collection and my entry to the
hobby. It is very fun and light card game. It has a heavy "take-that" feel, you are mobsters
trying to kill each other, however the art work gives it a cartoon-ish feel and makes it seem
more fun than mean. We have enjoyed this game time and time again and for the price
point, it really is a must have. It's just fun, creative, funny and provides so many games for
multiple size game groups as well. I believe it plays up to 6 people. Since I've owned it
(nearly 3 years) it has had countless plays and still hits the table occasionally. However it has
earned a permanent spot on my shelf and it has never NOT had the intense feel it has when
my wife and I decide loser cleans the kitchen... Replay value is just as high as the value of the
game itself. This one I recommend to any gamer who wants a short filler game that feels like
a lot more... Actually it's a little more than a filler, but it plays fast, is easily transported and
taught and always just as fun as the last game. Unless you are on a losing streak!

“You lookin’ at me?”
“Send him to sleep with the fishes!”
“I’ll make you an offer you can’t refuse!”

Ahhh … the wonderful clichés one can use when playing Family Business, quite likely
the godfather of mobster-themed games. After a period of being out-of-print,
Mayfair Games has re-released this gem of gunning-down rival gangs in your attempts
to rule the underworld.

A caveat: this game is brutal, and not for the feint-of-heart. The object is
brutally simple: kill everyone else. The game spares the gory details regarding
how the actual slayings occur, but you are free to embellish the scene as you see
fit!

Each player represents a gang of mobsters intent on seizing control of the
underworld. The Capone Mob, New York Mob, Moran Gang – all are represented. The
new edition even depicts actual mobsters on the cards, including such notorious
figures as “Scarface Al” Capone, “Pretty Boy” Floyd, “Desperate Dan”
Dillinger, “Baby Face” Nelson and more. It would have been even nicer if they had
included brief biographical data on each personality.

Each player’s gang consists of nine mobsters, all of whom are set face-up on the
table. Players each receive a starting hand of five cards, and the carnage is ready
to begin.

Game play is quite simple: Draw a card and play a card. Normally, you will play a
card (“Contract” or “Double Contract”) that attempts to add an opponent’s gangster
to the “Hit List”, a line of gangsters who have been targeted for extermination.
A “Hit” card, however, can cause a mobster to be gunned-down immediately and
instantly removed from the game. Various cards can be played in response to one of
these dastardly attempts, with the aim being to foil your opponent’s planned
assault.

Mobsters on the Hit List are arranged in a line on the table. Once six or more
mobsters are in a line, a “Mob War” ensues. From that point, the first mobster in
line is exterminated at the beginning of EACH player’s turn. The carnage continues
until all mobsters in the line are slain, or until a card is played to stop the
carnage. Further, some cards can cause a “Mob War” to begin even before there are
six gangsters on the Hit List. Mobsters are an unscrupulous bunch!

There is an assortment of other cards which can cause various effects, ranging from
rescuing mobsters from the Hit List, to the dreaded St. Valentine’s Day Massacre,
which immediately slays all mobsters currently on the Hit List. Brutal. Many cards
can be countered, which has the additional effect of switching the start player to
the person playing the counter card. This often causes some players’ turns to be
skipped, which is a source of contention amongst some. In a fast, free-wheeling
game such as this, however, I don’t mind it.

If a player loses all of his mobsters, he is eliminated. The wait for the
termination of the game won’t be long, though, as mobsters die at a frighteningly
high rate. Once there are only six mobsters left standing, an automatic Mob War
ensues and continues until the end of the game. The player with the last mob
standing is victorious and rises to the position of “crime lord”. At that point,
however, there won’t be many mobsters left to “lord” over!

While I am happy to see Family Business back in print, and am pleased with the
images of actual gangsters on the mob family cards, I am appalled that Mayfair has
inexplicably chosen to remove the brief power descriptions from the action cards.
Without those descriptions, players must constantly flip through the rulebook to
discover how a particular card can be used or countered. This bogs down what is
intended to be a fast-paced, fun game, and is totally inexcusable. The person
responsible for this oversight should be thrown onto the “Hit List”. Well, maybe
not shot, but at least suitably chastised!

Once one becomes familiar with how the cards can be used – which would take NO time
had the descriptions remained on the cards – the game plays quickly, often at a
frantic pace. Mobsters are tossed onto the Hit List, escape, and are thrown back on
again. Mob Wars start with great frequency, and the death toll mounts
precipitously. Don’t take offense when you are targeted, as at any moment, players
will inevitably target the player who has the most mobsters remaining. Thus, the
game is usually quite balanced.

Also, don’t enter the game expecting a great strategic struggle, or much control.
You are hostage to your hand of cards, and the only path to pursue is to kill or be
killed – probably both. Still, the game is fun, and offers the chance to slip into
the role of a mobster, but without the actual bloodshed! In true mobster fashion,
Mayfair has served up a “game we can’t refuse!”